''The American Collection'' was a spinoff series of '' Masterpiece Theater'', which ran from 2000 to 2003, for the former series' 30th anniversary. It was funded originally by Exxon Mobil (later Mobil); however, funding for both series was withdrawn in 2005. It aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. This was a widely acclaimed limited run program.

History

This program featured film adaptations by renowned works by American literary giants, and debuted in October 2000. The films are produced by WGBH and ALT films.

Theme music

The theme for this series was created by

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

, and featured cellist

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American Cello, cellist. Born to Chinese people, Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, ...

. It can be listened to here

Title design

Karin Fong, Dana Yee and Grant Lau won a 2001

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design This is a list of the winning and nominated programs of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design presented for the best main title sequence in television programming. Prior to 1997, the award was presented for Outstanding Indivi ...

for their work on this series.

Programs

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'', and a U. ...

's ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...

'' *

Esmeralda Santiago Esmeralda Santiago (born May 17, 1948)Santiago, Esmeralda. ''"When I was Puerto Rican." Norton Anthology of Latino/a Literature.'' Stavans, Ilan. New York, London: Norton, 2011. 1700-1714. Print. is a Puerto Rican author known for her narrative m ...

's '' Almost a Woman'' *

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. His autob ...

's ''

A Death in the Family ''A Death in the Family'' is an autobiographical novel by James Agee. It was based on events which occurred to Agee in 1915, when his father went out of town to see his own father, who had suffered a heart attack. During the return trip, Agee's ...

'' *

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short-story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

's ''

The Ponder Heart ''The Ponder Heart'' is a novella written by Eudora Welty and illustrated by Joe Krush, originally published in ''The New Yorker'' in 1953, and republished by Harcourt Brace in 1954. The plot of ''The Ponder Heart'' follows Daniel Ponder, a weal ...

'' *

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including ''O Pioneers!'', ''The Song of the Lark (novel), The Song of the Lark'', a ...

's '' The Song of the Lark'' *

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

's '' The American'' *

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

's ''

Cora Unashamed ''Cora Unashamed'' is a 2000 American made-for-television drama film from The American Collection directed by Deborah Pratt, starring Regina Taylor and Cherry Jones. The film was shot on location in October 1999 in central Iowa. Cities such as A ...

'' (a short story from his 1934 collection ''

The Ways of White Folks ''The Ways of White Folks'' is a collection of fourteen short stories by Langston Hughes, published in 1934. Hughes wrote the book during a year he spent living in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The collection addresses multiple dimensions of ...

'')

References

External links

*
National Council of Teachers of English's ''American Collection'' site
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Collection 2000 American television series debuts 2003 American television series endings PBS original programming Television series by WGBH Masterpiece Theatre